[Informational] Floor Plan Finalized for We Are The Nightlife Trade Show

The floor plan for the 2013 We Are The Nightlife: Entertainment and Service Industry Trade Show is NOW available. Booths are going fast, so call or email now. Exhibitor Prospectus located HERE. 

[Mixology] Drink of the Day: Greek Sex on the Beach

The name? Very risqué! But, you usually can't go wrong with a Sex on the Beach...the drink! But for those who like things a little dirtier, here's a great recipe via DrinksMixer.com for a Greek Sex on the Beach.

[Learn] Basic Terms for Bartending via DrinksMixer.com

If you are a beginner entering the bartending world, you might find yourself a little lost because like with everything, there is a lingo. DrinksMixer.com offers a list of the most commonly used terms in bartending. Veteran bartenders, please feel free to add on!

Bartending terminology

A lot of the terms and phrases listed below are standard throughout the industry. A good bartender will know his profession inside out, and the ability to understand various words related to bartending is a must.

Box
Pour into and out of a shaker, usually only once. Gives the drink a quick mixing without shaking.

Call Drink
A liquor and mixer, of which the liquor is a defined brand. (ie. Tanqueray and Tonic, Bacardi and Coke)

Cobbler
A tall drink of any liquor served in a collins or highball glass with shaved or crushed ice and garnished with fresh fruit and mint sprigs.

Chaser
A mixer that is consumed immediately after a straight shot of liquor to create a different taste.

Cocktail
Any of various alcoholic beverages consisting usually of brandy, whiskey, vodka, or gin combined with fruit juices or other liquors and often served chilled.

Collins
A drink akin to a sour which is served in a tall glass with soda water or seltzer water.

Cooler
A drink consisting of ginger ale, soda water, and a fresh spiral or twist of citrus fruit rind, served in a collins or highball glass.

Crusta
A sour-type drink served in a glass that is completely lined with an orange or lemon peel cut in a continuous strip.

Cup
A punch-type drink that made up in quantities of cups or glasses in preference to a punch bowl.

Daisy
An oversize drink of the sour type, normally made with rum or gin. It is served over crushed ice with a straw, and sweetened with a fruit syrup.

Lace
Normally applies to the last ingredient in a recipe, meaning to pour onto the top of the drink.

Eggnog
A traditional holiday drink containing a combination of eggs beaten with cream or milk, sugar, and a liquor such as brandy, rum, or bourbon.

Fix
A sour-type drink similar to the daisy, made with crushed ice in a large goblet.

Fizz
An effervescent beverage. (ie. that which is carbonated or which emits small bubbles.)

Flip
A chilled, creamy drink made of eggs, sugar, and a wine or spirit. Brandy and sherry flips are two of the better known kinds.

Frappé
A partially frozen, often fruity drink. It is usually a mixture of ingredients served over a mound of crushed ice.

Grog
A rum-based beverage with water, fruit juice and sugar, commonly served in a large mug.

Highball
Any spirit served with ice and soda water in a medium to tall glass (often a highball glass).

Julep
A drink made of bourbon, mint, sugar and crushed ice.

Lowball
A short drink made of spirits served with ice, water or soda in a small glass.

Mist
A liquor served over a glass filled with crushed ice, often a way of serving liqueur as an after dinner drink.

Mulls
A sweetened and spiced heated liquor, wine or beer, served as a hot punch.

Neat
The consumption of a spirit as a straight, unaccompanied shot.

Negus
A punch-like combination containing a wine, such as port, heated with spices and sweetened.

Nip
A quarter of a bottle.

Nightcap
A wine or liquor taken before bedtime.

On The Rocks
A wine or liquor poured over ice cubes.

Pick-Me-Up
A drink designed to relieve the effects of overindulgence in alcohol.

Posset
An old british drink from which the eggnog was derived. It consists of a mixture of heated ale or wine curdled with milk, eggs, and spices.

Puff
A traditional afternoon drink made of equal parts spirit and milk, topped with club soda and served over ice.

Punch
A party-size beverage consisting of fruit, fruit juices, flavorings and sweeteners, soft drinks, and a wine or liquor base.

Rickey
A drink made a liquor, usually gin, a half lime and soda water. It is sometimes sweetened, and often served with ice in a rickey glass.

Sangaree
A tall chilled and sweetened wine/liquor garnished with nutmeg.

Shooter
A straight shot of whiskey or other kind of spirit taken neat.

Shrub
Spirits, fruit juices, and sugar, aged in a sealed container such as a cask or crock, then usually bottled.

Sling
A tall drink made with either brandy, whiskey or gin, with lemon juice, sugar and soda water. It is served both hot and cold.

Smash
A short julep made of liquor, sugar, and mint, served in a small glass.

Sour
A short drink consisting of liquor, lemon/lime juice and sugar.

Supercall
Also known as top shelf or super premium. The high octane, often higher proof alcohols, or super-aged or flavored versions.

Swizzle
A tall, traditionally rum-based cocktail filled with cracked ice. A stirring rod or swizzle stick is quickly rotated between the palm of the hands to form frost on the glass.

Syllabub
A beverage made from a mixture of sweetened milk/cream, wine and spices.

Toddy
A sweetened drink of liquor and hot water, often with spices and served in a tall glass.

Tot
A small amount of liquor.

Virgin
A non-alcoholic drink.

Well Drink
A liquor and mixer, of which neither are defined brands. (ie. Gin and Tonic, Rum and Coke)

Read more: BARTENDER GUIDE: Bar and bartending terminology. http://www.drinksmixer.com/guide/2-1.php#ixzz2KkittgKG

[Article] Nightclub Owner Gives Industry Advice

We were browsing the net...again. I mean this IS what the blogging team is for around here! Anyway, we found an article [on the LA Times website] about an interview with a Hollywood nightclub owner who gives advice about owning and [successfully] running an establishment. The article is a bit dated, but the content is totally worth reading! Cheers!

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Nightclub owner John Lyons has sound advice

In addition to running the Avalon Hollywood and Bardot nightclubs, he designs and installs audio and lighting systems for other venues.

September 12, 2010|By Richard Verrier, Los Angeles Times

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The gig: Owner of the popular Avalon Hollywood and Bardot nightclubs in Hollywood, and founder and president of John Lyons Systems, which designs and installs audio and lighting systems for high-end restaurants and nightclubs in such venues as the Mirage and Venetian hotels in Las Vegas.

Background: Started working at a bar when he was a 14-year-old in Buffalo, N.Y. "I thought it was really cool to be in a room with adults and great bands — to be doing that and getting paid, it was like a dream world for a kid." Lyons, 53, was barely out of high school when he and his brother Patrick began working at a 1,500-person club called Uncle Sam's. "The managers were classic" screw-ups, Lyons recalled. "They'd get drunk or chase waitresses. It wasn't long before both of us had a set of keys." After turning around the club in Buffalo, the brothers were soon tapped to manage other Uncle Sam's clubs in Detroit, Des Moines and Minneapolis, the last of which was featured in Prince's 1984 film "Purple Rain."

Secret to success: "Our method was always wake up early, don't drink and just do the ABCs," Lyons said. "You can break the nightclub business down into really simple components: Your place has to be clean, you have to have a lot of nice people who are taking care of customers, the air conditioning has to work, and you have to pay attention to your entertainment to make sure it's as good or better than what's out there."

From disco to punk: In the waning days of disco, the Lyons brothers assembled an investor group to buy out a glitzy club in Boston called 15 Lansdowne St. Discotheque (later called Avalon). They relaunched it as the punk club Spit, which featured the likes of the Ramones and the Talking Heads. While in Boston, Lyons joined a "matrix of nerds" at MIT that included the prominent sound engineer Henry Kloss. He developed a prototype video projector for another venue Lyons opened next door to the Spit called Metro, which he said was the nation's first "video nightclub."

Necessity is the mother of invention: On a busy Saturday night in the early 1970s, Lyons was forced to shut down a club he was managing and send 1,500 patrons home because the sound system suddenly broke down. "I didn't know what to do,'' he recalled. "It was devastating." The next day Lyons resolved to learn how to repair and improve sound systems. Eventually, he collaborated with speaker manufacturer EAW to design a series of speakers tailored to dance clubs. Known as the Avalon series, the speakers were licensed to EAW and are now installed in thousands of venues around the world.

Inspired by a Pink Floyd concert, Lyons also developed sophisticated lighting systems in his clubs that were designed to synchronize with music. He received awards that prompted other club owners to hire him for his services. "Before I knew it I was working on every single club in Vegas," he said of his sideline business, John Lyons Systems. He has a small crew he works with out of his office at Avalon in Hollywood, but likes to do the electrical work himself.

House of Blues: Lyons teamed up with Isaac Tigrett to open the Hard Rock Cafe in Boston two decades ago. The two hit it off and, along with Lyons' brother Patrick, partnered with actor Dan Aykroyd to launch the first House of Blues in Cambridge, Mass., in 1992. Lyons did all the sound and lighting at the club and helped the franchise expand in other locations. He was no stranger to Aykroyd, whom he had met years earlier when he and the late John Belushi showed up at the Spit.

"These two characters came up and clearly didn't belong there,'' Lyons recalled. "I said, 'Sorry, gentlemen, you look like I'll probably have to throw you out in an hour.' Customers recognized them as entertainers but I didn't know who they were because I didn't watch TV 'cause I was working. Dan was like, 'Sir, clearly you're understaffed. We're here as a security detail and we're going to help you.'" Thus began a lasting friendship.

Aykroyd is an investor in Avalon Hollywood, which Lyons acquired in 2002 with his partner Steve Adelman. Formerly known as the Hollywood Palace, where the Beatles had their first West Coast performance, the historic Vine Street venue needed a makeover. Lyons invested $6 million in improvements that transformed the onetime vaudeville theater into one of the top-rated clubs in the country. Lyons' clubs and his sound and lighting business generate about $15 million or more a year in revenue and employ 150 people, he said.

Sage advice: "If you create an organization that is based on good principles and being fair and straightforward with people, you have more harmony."

richard.verrier@latimes.com

[Mixology] Drink of the Day: Smore Tini

via @CliqueVodka // www.cliquevodka.com

[Footage] Clique Vodka: #TheNewBlack

If you haven't heard, Clique Vodka is #TheNEWBlack. Check out their video promoting the new look of Clique Vodka. Also, go to their website www.cliquevodka.com and find out where to get your hands on it. Cheers!




Follow @CliqueVodka on Twitter.
Don't forget to send #CliqueShots through the DrinkyPal app or tag Clique Vodka's Instagram page.

Clique Vodka is the OFFICIAL drink of We Are The Nightlife 'Master of Mixology' bartending competition. For more information, click here. 

[Article] How (and where) to Drink Alone in Atlanta via @Scoutmob

Usually when drinking, people partner the activity with other social activities but for those of you who enjoy [only] the companionship of the rich wine or warming vodka, should read this article. Brought to you by a daily Scoutmob email our Creative Director receives, the article uncovers some of Atlanta's best kept secret bar hideouts. If any readers are hiding favorite little spot in your city, we encourage sharing your secrets too. Cheers!

'Enjoying a libation and a little solitude: it's a lost art that, when done correctly, can be a rather pleasant way to spend an hour or two—and doesn't always have to end in tears, shame and telltale smears of buffalo wing sauce. But one doesn't merely join the leagues of moody novelists and George Thorogood without some planning. In honor of Valentine's Day, we give you a few suggestions on where and how to sip solo in the city without looking like a lost little lamb: 

Literary libating. Curling up to a good book in a cozy chair is a pleasure revered by many—but a book in one hand and a glass of red in the other? Might be just the thing to make all that curling even more enjoyable. Thanks to a few cafes who add wine and beer to their rotation, this doesn't have to mean smuggling your Franzia into the library. Pulling up a chair at the bohemian Carroll Street Cafe bar (and the tapas menu) with a worn paperback in tow and a good glass of vino at the ready can be one of ATL's most pleasant ways to kill a couple hours. The couches and the beer list atPark Grounds make a dangerously comfortable combination (just be sure to bring headphones to drown out potential dog-barking). And while some coffee shops around town might feel a little too chaotic, Java Vino's living room atmosphere (and handy roster of organic wines) makes for a perfect spot to catch up with your buddy Hemingway. 

Finishing your novel (or browsing Reddit, but we won't tell). Rare is the establishment where one can enjoy a grown-up beverage and crack open their laptop without wary glances and bad Wi-Fi. But more and more coffee shops are catching on to the beauty of the alcohol license (hey, that Great American Novel ain't going to write itself sober). Bustling cafes likeOctane Westside and Inman Perk are just as picky about their beer list as they are their coffee, which means you can alternate between the two while doing... whatever it is that you're doing on there. And if you need a little extra shot of inspiration, head to Condesa, where boozy cocktails like Sazeracs and Corpse Revivers are poured right alongside the espressos. For best results: drink both. 

Chatting up the bartender. When it comes to drinking solo, the person behind the bar can make or break the whole experience. Snooty mixologists might give you the stink eye if you ask for the wrong drink (don't even think about whipping out that book) and generally elicit a fight or flight response from your frightened temporal lobe. But killing time chatting up a friendly bartender? Might be one of the best arguments against stranger danger we know. We always like talking with the folks pouring our Spiritual Sangria at Sister Louisa's Church (after all, they areSister Louisa's acolytes), and the guys at Cypress Street have the uncanny ability to make you laugh and stuff your face full of beer-knowledge all at once. 

Having a beer with your BFF, dawg. No, not the human kind. Sure, you can't really chat him up about what happened on Walking Dead last weekend or why you can't seem to get a date, but kicking it with your dog and a cold beer is one of life's great pleasures. Our top pick for said activity has to be Park Grounds, where you can grab a beer and toss a tennis ball for your pup in the cafe's dog park. Then there's The Midway, where a dog-friendly patio makes for an excellent setting to enjoy one of the best beer lists in Atlanta. 

People-watching (and possibly feeling better about yourself in the process). Forget the book, the dog, the laptop. Forget even talking to anyone. There are a couple spots in Atlanta that are front-row seats to some seriously top-notch, Oscar-worthy people-watching. Saddle up to the bar at Trader Vic's, poke your straw in a hideous mug of rum, and bask in the floral-printed fanny-packed goodness of tourists getting sloshed off of the alcoholic equivalent of liquid pixie sticks. (Bonus points if you show up during DragonCon or Furry Weekend.) Better yet, find a good vantage point at Johnny's Hideaway and settle in to watch the cougar carnage (just don't you dare take that drink out on the dance floor). Warning: you may or may not wake up smelling like White Diamonds.'